S/o Explore test

[acurtis75]

The other thread reminded me that I might want dd to do the explore text this year. I promise I tried searching the forum and googling first but I am having no luck searching since the changes to the new format.

 

Dd8 would be in 3rd grade this year if she was in school. I had her take the end of 2nd grade Iowa test earlier this year and she scored pretty close to perfect. 99 percentile in everything.

 

I am interested in Duke TIP because we live in a major metropolitan area in Texas and there are a lot of university and museum programs she can attend if she is part of the Duke program.

 

So, should we do it this year or next and can anyone point me to a link for how to get it done in Texas?

[Lilaclady]

duke tip does not allow 3rd graders. Their talent search starts in 4th grade as far as I can tell but northwestern allows 3rd graders to test.

[Dmmetler]

Once you have an Explore score, you can send it to TIPs to qualify-DD tested as a 3rd grader through BESTS and Duke was fine with letting her take higher level classes once she had that score.

[Dana]

You can use NUMATS for testing in 3rd.

[Crimson Wife]

ACT should have the list of EXPLORE test centers for 2013 posted next month. I'm not sure if there will be any in Texas. If not, then you can arrange for individual testing through Belin-Blank but you'd need to find a certificated teacher willing to proctor it.

[Dmmetler]

The ACT is commonly used in Texas, so I'd expect there to be EXPLORE testing as well. If there aren't ones through Talent Search, I'd suggest calling middle schools and seeing if your DC could take it along with their students, because chances are very, very high that it's used locally for high school course placement or private school entry. I've found Belin-Blank very, very easy to work with.

 

 

[acurtis75]

Thanks Dana for the response. I was able to register via Numats. I didn't have any luck with the school districts near me. There was only 1 testing location for Explore anywhere near me which is odd. There are LOTS of ACT test sites at high schools in the area.

 

The location for the test is a bit of a drive (25 miles) but it is a small private school which is probably good and a little less intimidating than going to the local high school which is huge.

 

 

Now, any suggestions for test prep? Dd has only taken the Iowa test once and could probably use some test taking practice.

[Dmmetler]

There isn't much for test prep for the EXPLORE that I found. I actually printed and gave DD a practice ACT, using the EXPLORE timing instead, just so she had an idea of the format, and she did better than I would have expected on the ACT-and came out of the EXPLORE complaining about how easy the test was ;). For her, I think the hardest part was that the test site was a big, public high school, with high school sized everything, and even though she was tested with the talent search kids, since Duke tests older, and she was a young for grade 3rd grader in a room of 5th-6th graders, she was pretty small compared to them. She had a couple of older girls who took her under their wing, though-and at some of the academic competitions later in the Spring, ran into those "friends" from the EXPLORE.

[acurtis75]

Dmmetler we always seem to have similar ideas :) I googled and went to the library and really couldn't find anything for Explore so I ended up with a ACT prep for Dummies book. It is kind of snarky and humorous and she enjoyed flipping through it at thr library so I'll probably just let her read through the relevant chapters.

 

She can get a little overwhelmed and emotional at times in new crowded environments or is she doesn't get clear instructions so I think the more she knows about what to expect the better.

 

Specifically I want her to practice using a calculator (since we never use one during our regular math) and some science stuff. We haven't had a lot of practice with charts and data analysis so I don't want her to freak out if she's never seen it before. I gave her some old English tests that were used for state testing several months ago and she got about 90 percent right on the 8th grade test so I think the reading and grammar portions will be okay for her.

[Dmmetler]

My DD didn't use her calculator at all on the EXPLORE last year-I guess I'd stressed not using one for regular math too much ;). She still did very well, but I definitely agree with practicing a bit!

[acurtis75]

We practiced a bit today and she asked before every problem if it was still okay to use the calculator. I've never let her use one before other than to play with it in her free time. She does almost everything by herself these days so it was good to sit and watch her problem solving approach. I gave her the science practice test and she only missed 1 out of the 15 so maybe she's better prepared for it than I thought.

 

I'm a little concerned about the number of questions in the time available so we are going to start doing some timed tests for practice.